Plainville Police Sergeant Accused of Stealing Pills Is Fired

Members of the town council met behind closed doors for almost an hour Monday and voted to fire Sgt. Michael Bisnov.

Six council members voted in favor of firing Bisnov while the newest member of the council abstained from voting because he started Feb. 1 and wasn’t familiar with the investigation.

The call at the center into the investigation into Bisnov came on Jan. 18, 2016 when officers were asked to respond to the apartment of 54-year-old Frank Iris to check on him because no one had seen him.

Inside the home, police found Iris’ body and 21 bottles of prescription drugs, including pain killers, scattered nearby. Iris’ death was ruled a suicide.

Bisnov, who was in charge at the scene, is accused of taking 230 prescription pills from the home.

Police surveillance shows him carrying a yellow bag of prescriptions after returning from Iris' apartment and an internal affairs report says Bisnov dumped them into the station’s prescription drop box. What officers say is missing from the video is the stop Bisnov made to the locker room and authorities allege that’s when he took Iris’ medications and got rid of the rest.

Plainville Police Chief Matthew Catania recommended terminating Bisnov from the police force based on the final report of the internal affairs investigation.

Bisnov previously told investigators he didn’t take the pills for his personal use and that the family had asked for his help.

“He offered to take care of pills for us,” Carolyn Iris said, adding that the family did not ask him to.

“Now that it’s settled at least I have some closure,” Frank’s mother, Carolyn Iris, said.

“We can put this behind us because it was such a bad memory of what happened,” Frank’s older sister, Pat Iris, said.

The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters have repeatedly tried to talk to Bisnov but he has declined to comment.

Town Manager Robert Lee read a prepared statement after members of the council voted to terminate Bisnov.

“Town council came to this conclusion after reviewing the investigative report prepared by Plainville police department, watching the state police interviews with various Plainville police officers and considering the various explanations offered by Sgt. Bisnov and his union representative,” Lee said.

Moving forward, Frank Iris’ mother and sister are trying to focus on happier times with Frank.

“He was a good person and he just hit a rough spot in life and it's what made all this so bad,” Pat Iris said.